diff --git a/bin/cqlsh b/bin/cqlsh
index f60cfe99f5..8b8046a23f 100755
--- a/bin/cqlsh
+++ b/bin/cqlsh
@@ -2539,7 +2539,7 @@ def setup_cqlruleset(cqlmodule):
 def main(options, hostname, port):
     setup_cqlruleset(options.cqlmodule)
 
-    if os.path.exists(HISTORY) and readline is not None:
+    if os.path.exists(HISTORY) and readline is not None and readline.get_history_length()>0:
         readline.read_history_file(HISTORY)
         delims = readline.get_completer_delims()
         delims.replace("'", "")